Work work work

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Wed 13 Jan 2010 08:55
Another good day in terms of boat jobs. Simon got a bit bored so the helmsman's seat has now been re-manufactured, cortesy of a large 'lump of wood' liberated from the building site that is the Club Nautico. He also checked all the connections on the fridge (and re-made most of them). Jim from Delicado had donated a used manual temperature control, so that has now been fitted in place of the 'fancy shprancy' (and faulty) digital temperature control. There is a 24 hour test run going on at the moment, but it looks like we've 'taken back control' of the fridge temperature. Did I do anything yesterday? Well, I tested the outboard gear selector (it works) and did some passage planning for the San Blas Islands. This waas really pretty strenuous as it involved reading two pilot books, sifting through the American black & white charts I brought so long ago (whilst still in Guernsey) and putting a couple of routes into the 'magic box'.
Three weeks worth of meat has been ordered for thursday, vacuum packed and frozen. This consists of 10 chicken breasts, 2 kgs minced beef & 2 kgs stewing steak. With the remaining chicken Franks and turkey rashers that should be enough. Oh yes, we also brought 96 cans of beer! Fresh fruit, veg, eggs and bread we'll buy on Thursday afternoon. The plan is to check out Thurs morning, shop thurs afternoon,leave on friday morning for a group of islands about 18 miles south of Cartegena. Probably spend a day or so there (the Rosario Islands) then a 'quick 135nm' down to the San Blas Islands. Right now I'm planning on entering the San Blas at the eastern end and taking a couple of weeks to work westward to Porvenir, where we 'formally' enter Panama.The weather has been a bit blowy offshore the last couple of days, but most forcasts say it is calming down over the weekend. We'll see.
Simon is tending to think he won't be coming across the Pacific. A pity as he's a useful 'hand' to have on board, but not only would it mean that he would have taken a year out of his life by the time we got to New Zealand but he (I think) is finding the idea of 25 or so continuous days at sea (Galapagos to Marquesas) more than a little daunting. Long-distance sailing is definitely not for everybody and no critisiscm of anybody who decides it's a bit too much. Rather to slightly regret not having done it than be bored witless and not enjoy it.
Today (its fairly early in the morning my time as I  type this.....Insomniacs R Us) I'm going to take a look around the 'Old City' and tonight is 'Cruisers beer & pizza night' at a local establishment (no doubt followed by an ice cream). Ah, happy days!!!